Mind My Brains, Darling! Season 1

Goodnight Princess Omnibus (Acts 1-3)

Interview with Felicia Day

After a packed weekend of shooting our ‘Celebrate The Web’ (CTW6) pilot, thought I’d take a little time out to post a couple of pics and let you know how it’s going for Team BREW. We did all the filming in 2 days and now we are editing and sorting out music and all the post production things that need to be done.

A HUGE thank you to Rob Hunt for coming over on Sunday. Having Rob as Director of Photography really taken things to the next level for us. His vast experience with Standard Action and his other works was invaluable and gave us a new perspective on things. Plus, it was great fun even in the incredible heat.

We are also going to be announcing the other members of Team BREW later, people who have stepped in to really help out with all the post work that needs to be done at short notice. Thank you!!!

I’m not going to give anything away about the pilot itself. This is something new, and we think it will totally [censored] your [censored] off. Paul’s suggested motto for Team BREW:

It’s been all systems go here in Team BREW headquarters as we race to complete the Celebrate The Web 6 challenge of producing a new webseries pilot in seven days using three elements. We are one of twenty five teams that have entered CTW6 (full list of teams here). The three elements were announced via live feed on Thursday by Jenni Powell, Alexis Boozer and Logan Rapp:

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As soon as I had all the elements and had a chat on Twitter, I shut everything down and wrote the first draft of ‘Project Y’. Earlier in the week we had been talking to Rob Hunt from PhaseFire Films and he said he would like to be involved in CTW6. We met Rob at VCON last year. He came to the rescue during the ‘Webseries’ Panel and helped us sort out the projector so we could all preview our shows. Rob is Director/Editor/Director of Photography/Special Effects for the fantasy webseries ‘Standard Action‘, which is filmed in Vancouver. ‘Standard Action’ is fun, exciting and full of twists – and it looks amazing. This is the final episode from Season 1:

Between VCON and Geek Girl Con we met up with the Standard Action people a lot last summer, and they are a great, crazy-in-a-good-way bunch of folks. Rob also has an impressive portfolio of other projects, which does makes you wonder if he ever sleeps…

Having Rob on board meant we could really push the boat out in terms of style (he actually understands what F-stops are and everything!) so we didn’t limit our ambitions in the script. Since the first draft we have actually pared it down quite a bit, but the overall story is intact, and we are really excited to start filming today! Rob is filming a for Season 2 of Standard Action today, but will be braving Highway 1 tomorrow. We will be filming the main pieces with him and we’re really looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

The deadline is 10 AM on Thursday, so we are against the clock, but everything seems to be going to plan so far. Let’s see what the weekend brings…!

You can follow our progress on Twitter (and you see how all the teams are doing by searching for the #CTW6 tag):

Did you get your submission in for CTW6 yet? If not, hurry up because there are just hours left! We announced we were going to take part last week, and we can’t wait 🙂 Tomorrow (Thursday 10th May 2012) at 10:00 AM PST Celebrate The Web 6 will be officailly started, LIVE ON LIP.TV The LIVE STREAM will be here:

I’ve just checked with @CelebrateTheWeb on twitter about what the deadline is and they have confirmed that as long as THE FORM AND PAYMENT are submitted and accepted before the live broadcast, teams will be registered:

If you are unsure about what CTW 6 is, then check out the CelebrateTheWeb.com post about the rules – and there is lots more information about CTW on the site, too.

The challenge of creating a new pilot in only a week from scratch is absolutely thrilling. And scary! But more exciting than scary. I think. Tomorrow at 10 we will get to hear our fate – the pilot elements we have to include – and then I’ll drafting up some ideas and plots ready for when Paul comes back from work. It will be great to go into production again. It’s been almost a YEAR since Josephine Hoy and Alan Douglas came over to shoot their episodes of ‘Mind My Brains, Darling!’ (what an amazing weekend that was. Hope we can work with those talented people again soon!).

To all the teams about to embark on this weeklong rollercoaster – good luck!

P.S.

After MUCH deliberation about Team Names we think we have the definitive one. ‘BatStache’ was a real contender for a while but we didn’t want to tread on anyone’s toes (or wings). So it comes down to two other names:

Team BREW

The Pigeons

Which one should we use?

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Celebrate The Web has an impressive pedigree. It was set up by Kim Evey and Jenni Powell in the wake of the 2010 Streamy Awards as a way to honour the community. Since then it has grown in every iteration and CTW6 is no exception. Teams have 7 days to create a webseries pilot that incorporate 3 elements that will be revealed live online on May 10th. And this time the all the pilots produced and submitted will be screened at VIDCON, with the winners being screened on Industry Day:

We are happy to announce that Celebrate The Web is partnering up with VidCon to provide our Judge’s and Audience Choice prizes a fantastic opportunity: To be screened on Industry Day at VidCon in the Anaheim Convention Center! When in the past one would receive access to a single sponsoring production company, this time around we will bring your pilots to many industry professionals all at once!

In addition to screening, each winning team will receive:

Two passes to VidCon

One hotel room near the Anaheim Convention Center

$250 toward travel costs

All completed pilots will get a chance to be seen in a special IAWTV Screening Room being hosted during the Community Days of the conference. Times to be determined.

I have always loved the idea of CTW. In fact, I created the first CTW website because I believed in it so much. I’ve never entered it before – but this time, it’s personal! Yes, we will be fielding a team for CTW6 and I would encourage EVERYONE who has thought about trying to do web video to have a go. This is a great way to dip your toes into the wonderful world of web video for many reasons, but this are what I think make it the ideal opportunity:

Everyone has to produce their webseries pilot in only 7 days, so everyone is in the same boat

You will get to connect with other teams during the exciting and painful week of creating – and friendships forged during adversity usually last 🙂

If you complete and submit in time your pilot will be screened at VidCon, a bone fide video festival that has a huge following

You don’t have enough time to worry about whether you should be doing it, so all the doubts that have stopped you creating so far will be silenced

You will hopefully get feedback from people about your pilot. This is a huge thing for budding creators. It might be a scary proposition (anyone who has read the comments in YouTube knows how horrible commenters can be) but there is no reason to be afraid. The feedback you get is likely to be constructive and thoughtful. People in this community want to bring new talent on, and that includes you!

The only way you will really know if you want to create videos is to make them. When I interviewed Sean Becker he said he learned at least as much by creating his own videos as he did in film school – you only really learn how by actually doing it.

Have I convinced you yet? If so, submit your entry now and follow the instructions. You have until MAY 9TH TO GET YOUR ENTRIES IN, so hurry! I can’t wait to see what happens next week.

Yesterday Felicia Day hosted an epic 12 HOUR Google+ HangOutathon as a subscription drive for her new ‘Geek and Sundry’ Channel on YouTube. Over the course of the day there was a non-stop line up of guests, competitions, teasers and panels covering a huge range of topics. The new channel has an impressive line up of shows, with something for everyone.

I couldn’t watch the whole 12 hours, but every time I tuned in I was sucked into watching far longer than I meant to. Felicia is a great host and has a superb team that really work together to create a quality product. I just wish we could have seen more of Kim Evey 🙂

There was an IRC chat going on over on the geekandsundry.com community site, and this held up incredibly well all the time I was online. I took some screengrabs when I remembered, which you can see on Flickr:

Today they launched the first of many shows, including Felicia’s new vlog, The Flog, and a all-new music video from The Guild:

Felicia is one of the reasons I got into making web videos in the first place. It might be hard to believe now, but four years ago Felicia didn’t know she would now be a huge star. Nothing has been given to her on a plate. She has worked incredibly hard to get where she is and she has done it with grace, determination and an inclusiveness that makes people feel like they are part of her success. She has continually strived to push boundaries and bring people forward with her, and to do things her way. I think we have only just seen the start of what she will achieve.

Could anyone else be as successful as Felicia? Who knows? If you are asking that question then you might want to consider something else. If you pursue your passion, work at your craft and produce the very best work that you can, will your soul be satisfied? If you can honestly answer yes, then carry on striving because you will get your reward. It might not be your own branded channel and suite of shows on YouTube, but it will be worth it in ways you might not even realise yet.

Now, please excuse me while I go and finish editing this novel* 🙂

Bonus: A panda!

Spot the geek and sundry panda

* Not a turn of phrase, I really am editing a novel that I hope to have out by the summer. More on that soon!

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On Sunday we all tuned in to the 2nd Annual Indie Intertube Awards live broadcast on Mingle Media TV. And not just because ‘Mind My Brains, Darling!’ was up for three Awards! We have been fans of Indie Intertube for a long time, listen to their weekly podcast fairly religiously and we weren’t going to miss this event!

Screen grab from the 2nd Annual Indie Intertube Awards with April and Amanda

April and Amanda hosted the event with humour and professionalism, all backed up with their encyclopedic knowledge of webseries, webTV and the denizens of this hallowed space. The chat room was on fire and there was a real party atmosphere as they presented award after award (full list of all the winners is on indieintertube.tv).

When they started to announce the second ‘Lonelykonkledaydon Innovation Award’ I had the weirdest feeling – oh my! They are talking about us! It’s a little bit of a haze but I remember they said some very complimentary things about BodyLine and how it had developed from a fan-based webseries (which was the Evil League of Evil Application Processing Office videos) to the Internet Play, Goodnight Princess (which still made them cry every time they watched it) to Mind My Brains, Darling! And that they thought it had changed the space.

To be recognised by your peers is a humbling experience. The announcement and the stream of congratulations in the chat room and twitter from people we had grown to know and love over these last years was truly an emotional moment for me. I tell you, I would have been useless if I had had to make an acceptance speech there and then!

Screen grab from the 2nd Annual Indie Intertube Awards with April and Amanda

We knew when we started pushing the boundaries of BodyLine that many people probably wouldn’t quite understand what we were doing, or that they wouldn’t necessarily enjoy it even if they did. But we wanted to see how far we could go, and see whether it was possible to create a coherent series in a style that had literally not been seen before. I think we achieved that.

Winning this award shows that other people have been paying attention and appreciate what we were doing. So I encourage anyone who is trying something new to take heart from that. Keep going. Don’t give up. Don’t be disheartened when people don’t understand what you are trying to do, or dismiss it, or ignore it completely. Listen to advice, criticism and feedback, but don’t lose sight of your goals. Web TV, webseries – whatever you want to call it – the point of it is that you can make it anything you want it to be. ‘Mind My Brains, Darling!’ as a BodyLine series would never be allowed to be on TV. It’s completely bonkers to cut the heads off the actors – what were we thinking?!? If you are on the cutting edge, don’t let other people push you. And for goodness sake sure everyone knows what you are doing, and, if you can, why.

We’ll be recording our acceptance speech tonight, so look out for that 🙂 And we will do a YouTube release of our video ‘BodyLine: Four Reasons Why’ later today.

Thank you for everyone who has supported us. This is a group endeavour. It is very hard to create anything, to keep on going, and every single time you made time to send an email, tweet, vote or comment helped us plough on. Yes – this award is all your fault. Thank you!

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I’m not sure when I first met Efehan. It was Felicia Day’s fault, I do know that. We met on The Flog and early Guild forums, which spilled over to Twitter and everywhere else. Efehan is an amazing artist/animator/musician/creator and when I first saw his animation ‘So Then, Don’t Wait‘ I was transported. His recent work includes the cerebral webseries ‘Family Contact‘ and this video for Jed Whedon’s ‘Ancestors’:

After all this time we have never spoken, but tonight at 9 PM PST we are going to try a Hangout on Google+. You are very welcome to join in the fun! You can find me on Google+ here and Efehan is on Google+ here. Hope to see you!

In the meantime you might enjoy this video from Efehan – a different version of the ‘Mind My Brains, Darling!’ animated intro:

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After the recent IAWTV Awards there has been a flurry of activity behind the scenes to make photos and videos from the event available to everyone. There are photos on the IAWTV Facebook page and Indie Intertube have lots, taken by Brenda White, on their Facebook page. I put some hastily-captured screen grabs up on Flickr, too.

Apart from the actual Awards ceremony itself, the IAWTV hosted several Educational and Industry Track panels at CES that will be of interest to anyone involved in making (or watching) web TV. Thanks to post and editing by Adam Lohnes, the following are all available on the IAWTV YouTube channel, with more on the way:

Finding, Growing and Cultivating an Audience Online

Programming Your YouTube Channel to Succeed

Directing the WEB

Leadership Opportunities for Women on the Web

Working With Brands and Content Creators

IAWTV Awards: Best Comedy Web Series

Producers: Interactive Story Creativity

Shooting for Success: Best Production Practices for Your Web Series

IAWTV Awards: Best Drama Web Series

The Official playlist is here:

They are a great resource and exactly the kind of content the IAWTV is striving to provide for members and the wider community. A huge thank you to everyone involved!

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Firstly, hearty congratulations to the winners of the IAWTV Awards (the full list is on the IAWTV website). You will forever be the first cohort of IAWTV winners, something to be proud of. Secondly, congratulations to the production team who managed to pull off an impressive evening, no mean feat for a first year. Thirdly, overall I was really pleased with the whole event, thought it was well conceived and executed.

No comparisons
There is little point in trying to compare last night’s awards to past events. This is the first awards the IAWTV have hosted and they should be assessed on that basis. I am a member of the IAWTV and this event was a celebration of a community I hold dear. I can’t pretend to be a dispassionate observer, because I’m not. I was making screengrabs throughout the show so I’m not going to give a blow-by-blow account. I did enjoy the liveblog of the event by Amanda Walgrove in The Faster Times even though I don’t agree with all of her observations. It is likely that the IAWTV Awards will be at CES again next year, so this was a great base to build on and I have no doubt that next year’s will be even better.

You can see the screenshots here:

What was good

There was a clear plan for the evening, and even when things didn’t go to plan I never felt concerned that the whole event was going wrong.

There was obviously a big emphasis on timing, and things did move along quickly. That is a huge achievement.

Tech always goes wrong, but the show carried on, which is exactly what should happen.

There was an underlying respect for the occasion, the space and the community. Even though there were cracks about web TV I could have done without hearing from some quarters, the ceremony itself was respectful, dignified and fitting.

Some of the pre-recorded segments were very good indeed.

There were no streakers.

Jane Espenson and Bernie Su hosting at the IAWTV Awards

What could have been better

The stress on timing meant that people were literally running on and off stage and sometimes the stage was empty. This wasn’t a major issue in the overall scheme of things but would be an area to look at for next year. I would have preferred the award section hosts to stay on stage at all times and help get people on and off stage and cover for any glitches.

Sound was an issue all the way through and would be the #1 priority for next time. Levels fluctuated wildly from silence to barely-there to booming and back again. However, anyone who has had to perform in any venue not run by them will tell you that sound is one of the hardest things to get right. Even with well equipped desks and great sound engineers, things can go wrong. Someone should have had a handle on the hot mics, at least, to spare us the unguarded commentary.

Some of the live segments fell flat, some of the recorded segments were too long, and sometimes meshing the live and recorded together went awry. Again, these are problems all live shows are subject to. Most of the things that could be controlled before the event were, and that’s all you can hope for.

Using YouTube meant that there was effectively no chat room because it was pretty much spammed all the way through.

I understood the idea behind using Siri – the Awards were at CES! – but it didn’t quite work and added another layer of complication that didn’t need to be there.

April Grant, Amanda Shockley and Kai Haison hosting at IAWTV Awards

Individual high points

Grace Helbig – I am not familiar with this young lady or her show ‘Daily Grace‘, but her performance last night was very good so I will investigate further.

The Indie Intertube ladies – I’ve known Amanda and April for quite a while and actually met them this year (yay!). They were poised and classy hosts and I was so proud to watch them on stage.

Elisabeth Flack receiving an award for Exceptional Individual Service. Elisabeth worked behind the scenes tirelessly for the IAWTV and she was incredibly helpful and welcoming to me when I was considering joining the IAWTV. You are an inspiration, Elisabeth, and I was thrilled to see you honoured.

Jane Espenson

Personal low points
If you were in the IAWTV chat room last night you would know what these were for me. Not sure I’ll share them beyond that but there were parts that I thought were ill-conceived, mainly relating to individuals whom I think should know better. Or maybe I just don’t get their humour. Lots of people don’t share my sense of humour, either, so maybe it’s down to a question of taste.

Take-AwaysThis was a celebration of web TV, the creators and the community and went off without any major problems. I think the infrastructure is building to take advantage of the opportunities that will open up in the coming months. We want people outside our space to take us seriously as professionals. This was a step towards achieving that, and I thank the Academy and everyone who helped make it a success. Have a day off this weekend for once. You deserve it.